A FORMER Wrexham FC boss yesterday admitted he was “reckless” when he jumped in with the possibility of a lucrative redevelopment of the Racecourse Ground.

There were more revelations about Wrexham FC’s dark days at a Manchester’s Civil Court of Justice when Alex Hamilton took the stand.

The former club chairman is facing an action by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to disqualify him from being a company director.

Yesterday Mr Hamilton insisted he believed the plan to enable B&Q to build a new DIY store on the Racecourse Ground and relocate the club to a new stadium was the best way forward to free the club of crippling debts.

But when former disgraced Wrexham FC chairman Mark Guterman telephoned him in 2002 to tell him “the deal was on” to take control of Wrexham FC and press on with their Racecourse redevelopment project, Mr Hamilton admitted he had not put in the necessary research to establish exactly Wrexham’s economic position and the viability of redeveloping the ground.

He said: “I admit now in hindsight I should have been more alert, but I was working on people’s words.

“In hindsight I could have conducted investigations, but at the time I didn’t believe there was time for due diligence. I believed I had to get on with it fast.”

The court heard that even though Wrexham council planning bosses gave strong indications they would not support a total relocation of the club away from the ground – he did not want to take no for an answer.

He invoked a break clause, which meant the club had to leave the Racecourse Ground, which Mr Hamilton claimed was aimed at galvanising a planning reaction from the council – to get things moving.

Under examination, Lucy Wilson-Barne, acting for the Secretary of State, said she found it incredible Mr Hamilton – an experienced property developer and backer for the Wrexham project – should have taken such a huge back seat with so little input into progressing the scheme, as he claimed.

Mr Hamilton again insisted it was Mr Guterman who was supposed to be in charge of the project.

Ultimately the two fell out, Mr Hamilton claming he had been misled by Mr Guterman, the court heard.

Ms Wilson-Barne said: “You were never misled. You knew the council’s stance over 2003-04 that they would never support a complete relocation of the club.”

Mr Hamilton denied this and insisted he had been involved in planning developments where initial indication of lack of support from local authorities had been overcome.

Mr Guterman has accepted a seven-year disqualification as a director for his role in Wrexham.